The present invention pertains to a dispenser for self-adhesive material and more particularly to a self-adhesive stamp dispenser.
As is well known self-adhesive stamps are very popular for personal or small business mailings. These stamps are sold very lightly adhered to a backing material from which the stamps can be easily removed and applied to an envelope without licking or other moistening. The adhesive on the stamp interacts with a special coating on the backing material to allow only light adhesion but tenaciously attaches to an envelope.
The backing material is either a flat sheet or a tape wound into a roll. Each stamp is individually peeled from the backing material and attached to an envelope. In fact, it is difficult to remove a strip of stamps together because adjacent stamps are very tenuously connected, if at all, on the backing material. This is in contrast to rolls of moistenable stamps which must be torn apart along perforations to separate one stamp from another.
Various types of containers have long been available for storing rolls of stamps whether of the moistenable type or the self-adhesive type. With such a container, the tape on which the self-adhesive stamps are affixed is manually pulled out of the container and each stamp is manually peeled from the roll and applied. Although such containers are useful, there are advantages to dispensing the stamps mechanically, especially for small business use. Self-adhering stamps lend themselves to such mechanization.
Applicant is unaware of any mechanized stamp dispenser for self-adhesive stamps in the patent literature. Various patented; devices are known, however, for dispensing self-adhesive materials other than postage stamps. Such dispensers are shown in U.S. Pats. Nos. 4,447,482 to Heinzelman et al., 5,470,868 to Wiggs et al., and 4.718.971 to Summers, and 5,472,560 to Horng. Wiggs et al, Summers, and Horng patents all have a cost disadvantage in that they require gear mechanisms to rotate the take-up or drive reels. The Heinzelman et al. patent would not be effective for dispensing self-adhesive postage stamps since it depends on the strength and integrity of the self-adhesive material to accomplish the dispensing action. Heinzelman et al.""s device may be suitable for dispensing adhesive tape for medical purposes, but it would not function to dispense postage stamps that are only lightly connected, if at all, to each other.
A self-adhesive stamp dispenser is commercially available and is sold under the trademark xe2x80x9cPremiere Stamp Affixer.xe2x80x9d This device, like the Wiggs et al., Summers, and Horng patents, uses gears to drive the take up reel and thus advance the tape and move stamps to be dispensed into a dispensing position. Since cost and simplicity are desirable attributes for a self-adhesive stamp dispenser, the Premiere dispenser does not provide an optimum solution.
A device is provided for separating stick-on material, such as self-adhesive stamps, from a roll of backing tape to which the stick-on material is adhered and for dispensing the stick-on material onto an application surface. The device provides a chamber for holding a roll of backing tape and stick-on material so that backing tape and adhered stick-on material can be payed out from the roll in a first direction. The tape is guided along a path that causes the tape initially to extend in said first direction and then in a direction angularly related to the first direction so that as the tape changes direction, it separates from the stick-on material. A drive member engages the application surface and the tape after it has been separated from the stick-on material. Movement of the drive member over the surface by manipulating the device causes the drive member to pull the tape from the holding chamber and to move it along the path to a take-up chamber for the empty tape. As the device continues to be moved, the stick-on material is dispensed onto the surface.
An object of this invention is to provide a simple, low cost, and dependable dispenser for self-adhesive materials.
Another object is to provide a dispenser for self-adhesive postage stamps that includes a minimum number of moldable parts.
A further object is to provide a self-adhesive material dispenser that does not require gears or a gear mechanism for its operation.
An additional object is to provide a dispenser for self-adhesive material that separates the stamps from the tape and advances the tape into an empty tape take-up chamber in response to movement of the dispenser over the surface on which the self-adhesive material is to be applied but which does not use a gear mechanism to rotate the supply or take-up rolls.
A significant feature of this invention is the use of a roller that engages the empty tape and surface on which the stamps or other sell-adhesive material is to be applied and causes the stamps to be separated from the tape while moving the empty tape into the take-up chamber.
A still further object is to provide a self-adhesive material dispenser that can easily be loaded and which requires only a single stamp to be removed in order to initiate the dispensing action.
Yet an additional object is to provide a self-adhesive postage stamp dispenser which can be easily opened for loading and also for observing the supply of stamps still remaining in the dispenser.
A still further object is to provide a self-adhesive stamp dispenser from which the empty tape can be easily removed without disassembling the dispenser.
An additional object is to provide a self-adhesive postage stamp dispenser that is easily operated in one hand of the user for applying a single stamp or a strip of stamps and which firmly presses the stamps being applied onto to the application surface. Another object is to provide a dispenser for self-adhesive postage stamps that is particularly useful for small businesses where the necessary postage involves more than one stamp.
These and other objects will become apparent upon reference to the following description and claims and to the accompanying drawings.